Underscoring the escalating tensions between them, China announced on Wednesday it had taken “appropriate” action in response to what it called India’s “unfair and discriminatory” treatment of Chinese journalists.

In recent weeks, nearly all journalists from China and India have been ejected from their respective countries, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday.

The Indian government denied the remaining two Chinese state media journalists in the nation a renewal of their visas in May. Xinhua employs the first one, while the second is by China Central Television.

Four journalists from Indian publications were still based in China, but at least two have not been permitted to enter the nation again. Yet despite being informed that his credentials had been withdrawn, a third person is still in China.

“We’re down to only one accredited Indian reporter in Beijing — and regrettably, probably zero soon,” tweeted Ananth Krishnan, a journalist for The Hindu in India, on Wednesday.

Since the tragic incident on the contentious Sino-Indian border in 2020, relations between the two most populous nations in the world have gone sour.

A spokesperson for the Chinese foreign ministry said the country’s journalists had been unfairly treated in India for years.

“Chinese journalists have suffered unfair and discriminatory treatment in India, and in 2017, the Indian side shortened the visa validity of Chinese journalists to three months or even one month for no reason,” Mao Ning, the spokesperson, said.

Ms Ning added, “In the face of this prolonged and unreasonable suppression by the Indian side, the Chinese side had to take appropriate countermeasures to safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of the Chinese media. The visa of the last remaining Chinese journalist in India has also expired.”